Khaberni - The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that ISIS gunmen killed four security personnel belonging to the government in northern Syria on Monday, in what is considered the most violent attack carried out by the group against government forces since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.
The attack on a checkpoint west of Raqqa city marks an escalation in the militant group's attacks against the government of President Ahmad Al-Shar’, following the group's announcement two days earlier of the start of a "new phase of operations" against it.
The group has not yet claimed responsibility for Monday's attack. The group had claimed responsibility on Saturday for two attacks targeting members of the Syrian army in northern and eastern Syria, which resulted in the death of a soldier and a civilian.
The agency mentioned that the forces thwarted Monday's attack and killed one of the gunmen. It cited a security source stating that the ISIS terrorist organization carried out the attack.
In a separate attack, SANA reported early Tuesday local time that a soldier was killed in an attack by unknown gunmen on an army headquarters in the vicinity of the city of Mayadin in Deir Ezzor, eastern Syria.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, which occurred in the same city where the Islamic State organization carried out an attack this week.
The Syrian government joined the international coalition led by the United States to fight the Islamic State organization last year. In January, government forces took control of Raqqa from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, along with a large part of the surrounding areas in northern and eastern Syria.
In the meantime, three Syrian military and security sources stated that the American forces began withdrawing from their largest military base in northeast Syria on Monday, as part of a broader withdrawal operation of American forces that were deployed in Syria a decade ago to fight the organization.
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